The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), in partnership with the French government has commenced a two-week Joint Campaign Planning Course aimed at enhancing the military component of regional peacekeeping operations. - The course is also aimed at providing the participants with a comprehensive operational level tools and principles, to perform the steps of planning operations as part of conflict management and the needed practical skills to conduct multidisciplinary peace support operation planning effectively in a modern peacekeeping environment. The Commandant of KAIPTC, Air vice Marshal Christian Edem Dovlo, said the course was necessary due to effective tra…

- The enlistment process into the Ghana Armed Forces is being reviewed to deal with anomalies detected in the 2008 general recruitment exercise conducted on March 10, 2008. The training of 420 applicants selected during last year’s recruitment exercise had to be suspended in “good faith” in order to preserve the security and safety of the citizens of the state. The Defence Minister, Lt Gen Joseph Henry Smith (rtd) said this last Wednesday when he was responding to a question in Parliament concerning the suspension of 420 potential Ghana Armed Forces recruits. He said as soon as the anomalies observed are rectified, a fresh recruitment exercise would be launched and…

- The Minister for Youth and Sports, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has been allegedly caught in financial impropriety after been severally accused of using public funds worth thousands of Cedis to purchase items such as diapers, oil and meat among others for his household. The Minister who has barely spent four months in office, is also accused of travelling with his ”girlfriend” to sleep in a luxurious hotel in La Cote D’Ivoire, when the local Black Stars went to the grand finale of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) tournament, and also allocated a VW Passat to his wife among other numerous allegations leveled against him by Mr. Adim Odoom, former Principal…

- AFRICAN COUNTRIES URGED TO RE-AFFIRM AU COMMITMENT The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, has called on member countries of the Africa Union (AU) to re-affirm their commitment to strengthen Africa's capacity in building lasting peace, security, and sustainable development. He said this during a Flag raising ceremony to mark the 46th Anniversary of Africa Day, which was focused on the theme: Towards United, Peaceful, and Prosperous Africa. The Minister commended AU for decolonizing Africa and urged member countries to continue with effective, coordinated action by world leaders as well as full support for the Millennium Development Goals and the New Partners…

Ghana has been ranked as the best place to do business in West Africa in a report released by the World Bank and International Financial Consortium (IFC) outlook on Doing Business 2009. - According to the outlook, Ghana which for the past three successive years was among the world's best performers, recorded improvement in the area of starting a business by abolishing the requirements to register employment vacancies and to obtain a company seal. This, according to the report, led to the reduction in a number of procedures to start a business. Overall Ghana ranks 87th out of 181 countries ranked in Doing Business 2009 as compared to 82 out of 178 countries for Doing Business 2008.…

The Iranian Ambassador to Ghana, Valiollah Mohammadi Nasrabadi, has called for the strengthening of bilateral relations between Ghana and Iran for mutual benefit especially in the areas of trade, agriculture and energy. - He said both countries are endowed with human and natural resources that could be harnessed for the benefit of the two countries but this had not yielded the necessary results. During a courtesy call on Ghana’s Defence Minister, Lt Gen Joseph Smith (rtd) to discuss relations between the two countries he attributed the limited cooperation between the two countries to the lack of knowledge and sharing of information. According to him, Iranians are turning to Afric…

A workshop on gender mainstreaming in West Africa has began in Ghana with a call on actors in the field of peace and security to do more to enhance and attach importance to the role women play in the field of conflict prevention and resolution. - The four-day workshop has brought together 42 participants from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Chad, Benin, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Senegal and other African countries to explore mainstream strategies. This includes targeted activities to support women by specifically addressing priorities and needs, through research legislation, policy development and aggressive implementation of resulting programmes. Addressing the participants, the Technical Advisor of the …